Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger: the
Sign of the Dragon
Director:Jerry
Thorpe Year:
1972 Rating: 6.0
I expect the producers
of the TV series Kung Fu were probably correct when they thought that an
American audience would never tune in to watch a show with an Asian lead
actor. Yellow face was still commonly used and there would be no blowback
from critics or the public. But I bet that within a few years they thought,
fuck me, we could have had Bruce Lee playing the lead. It was still a popular
show that only ended after three seasons when David Carradine, who they chose
to play the role of a half Chinese half American, decided that he had had
enough. But with Bruce Lee in the role, those re-runs would be worth gold.
Whether the idea for Kung Fu came from Lee
is a bit murky. He had been pushing the idea for a Sholin monk in America
titled The Warrior, but Warners claims the idea had been bouncing around
for a few years. Instead of course, Lee left for Hong Kong where his role
as Kato in the Green Hornet had made him very popular and he was able to
sign with Golden Harvest. If he had gotten the role of Caine in Kung Fu,
would he have made those films? Probably not. So it worked out for the best,
I supposed.
This is the pilot for the TV show. It did
well enough that a few more episodes were ordered and they did well enough
for more. Interesting and surprising that it did because shaolin monks and
martial arts must have still been very foreign to American audiences. But
they latched on to Caine's character as this quiet, polite man who minded
his own business until he could not look away. In a sense, a traditional
character in Westerns. Shane. In this pilot, Caine has walked across the
desert to a small town where of course the whites are exploiting Chinese
labor building the railroads. What he is doing in America is slowly brought
out in a number of flashbacks. As a boy he joined the Shaolin Temple, learned
the philosophy of the monks as well as kung fu (Carradine's younger brother
getting a cameo). Aphorisms fly about like bees around honey. Once he has
been able to grab the bead out of the hand of the Abbott (Philip Ahn) he
is told it is time to leave. In bare feet in the snow with nothing. He murders
a Prince for killing his blind Master (Keye Luke) and is on the run. For
3 seasons.
I don't know if this is a recurring theme.
The Fugitive. I have not seen that many episodes of the show. There were
sequels - a TV movie titled Kung Fu: The Movie produced in 1986 with Carradine
and Brandon Lee as Caine's son. And the TV series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
with Carradine playing a Shaolin monk but set in modern times. Not seen any
of those. The show feels very sedate, old fashioned but I like the seriousness
to which the show portrays the Shaolin Temple and its philosophy. Only fight
when necessary. The final fight against another Shaolin monk sent by the
Palace is actually not badly choreographed.
